Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, July 3 / Trend H.Hasanov /
Ashgabat, with the support of UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), hosted a meeting of interagency group of the national program for early childhood development (ECD), UNICEF said on Tuesday.
The event, attended by international experts, discussed the practical plan of action. As stated in the information, the meeting allowed to assess the short- and long-term steps at the political, institutional and societal levels, which are necessary for the development of the child before birth and up to seven years.
One of the priorities was to strengthen the system of social support and protection of families with young children.
Experts from the rehabilitation centers of Russia and Belarus shared the experience of working with children with special needs and gave a number of recommendations to the working group on integration services for these children in the general plan of action for the ECD.
In general, the event prepared draft regulations of interagency group. The information also said that the analysis of the situation helped experts "to identify obstacles to the creation or strengthening of certain services, the necessary actions to address the causes of obstacles, determination of the agencies responsible for services and capacity development in the ECD."
In addition, the priorities were outlined for 2012. These include the definition of pilot areas in Turkmenistan for the introduction of ECD services, including the services of health, education and social protection, as well as strengthening of the coordinating role of the interagency working group.